their business, and tent city at night. what happens when the tent flaps go down is one of those things that they do is the male inmates make homemade sexual pleasure devices. >> all right. today you guys asked me what a fifi is. so since there's other people that did not want to demonstrate what it is for you. i personally do not use them because i don't have that much in here. i'm going to basically show you what it was. >> we thought about it and figured it might really be in bad taste to show you how one of these devices is actually made. but suffice it to say it only takes a few items and they're all legally accessible by just about any inmate. >> what do you do with them when you find one? >> i don't touch it. i usually find a new guy to touch it for me and throw it away. >> or on a stick. >> i've been here a little while. i can designate that to someone else. i'm not touching it. it's disgusting.

due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons, into a world of chaos and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen, "lockup raw." if you were to describe prison life in a three-letter text, it definitely would not be lol. it could be wtf. but that doesn't mean what you think it does. >> sorry, mom. >> it stands for workouts. tattoos. >> i got a $100 bill tattooed on my penis.

>> the most painful one i'd probably have to say would be the one i got in the middle of the armpit. >> and food. >> we're not [ bleep ] animals. >> i don't think a dog would eat that. >> this is the jungle. if you want to eat, you came to the wrong place. >> hey, yo, listen, it's going down just like this. ♪ >> you never know when it's going to pay to be the stronger man. >> you never know when you're going to get into a melees in here. no room for slouches. >> to survive behind bars, an inmate really has to display strength. and over the years we've seen some imposing inmates who are either through their lifting or through their exercise regimen look like they can tear you apart. other inmates survive through their intelligence or through their self-confidence because the bottom line is you have to be strong to survive. you're either predator or prey.

>> we've met plenty of inmates eager to prove they're anything but prey. >> tell them the beach is that way, right? the beach is that way, right? >> the way they achieve those results varies. >> ooh. that's all right. that's all right, though. >> i couldn't get that. >> i know. >> the facilities and equipment available at the maximum security prisons and jails we visit varies widely from state to state, from county to county. some come with modern gyms and free weights. while others provide only the most basic equipment. often a workout is only as good as the inmate's creativity. >> some of the exercises that they do are pretty ingenious. you know, push-ups with their cellmates on their back. >> it's like riding a bull. >> different exercises that

include their cellmates, handstand pushups i've seen. but really the creativity, what kind of things that they are able to achieve with so little, the different positions that they can get into in these little cells to get multiple exercises, it's all pretty interesting. >> at the orange county jail, we covered the story of inmate jeremy bowles, whose sweaty workout routines left his cell window covered in condensation. >> can you see me? >> yeah. >> and sure enough, he wiped the steam away and it really made a pretty dynamic shot. >> bowles later invited director of photography brian kelly to experience mattress curling. one of his improvised in-cell workouts. >> stick your ass out, like you're taking a squat. guarantee that will [ bleep ] you up quick. >> it's heavy. >> yeah. you feel it? >> oh, yeah. >> my arms are bigger than his.

>> look at the guns. >> it was as if i was doing a barbell curl. i don't know what the weight was but there was some resistance there and it was an effective exercise for these guys to actually work their biceps. it was great. >> i'm going to go back to work. >> while prisons are full of male inmates sweating and grunting through their workouts, we've noticed many female inmates take a more relaxed approach to fitness. >> by far male inmates work out much more than female inmates. it's -- it's very rare to see a male inmate that doesn't work out. just like it's kind of rare to see a female inmate that works out a lot. >> but there are exceptions. >> and that's all me. all day long. >> this is a cage fighter right here. >> well, not anymore. i got a felony now. but, yeah. >> inside the famous tent city

housing complex at the maricopa county jail in phoenix, arizona, we found one group of young women determined to tackle a common problem. >> ready, set? and one, two, three. >> just like freshmen in college dorms, many new inmates put on extra pounds. >> we don't want to get fat from the bread. >> we want to fit into size 1 again. >> healthy body fits a healthy mind, right? >> we walk laps around the yard. and we do squats. >> we do push-ups. >> push-ups and everything. >> we just did ten. >> we do 10 on each side. >> i do 11. >> the women also had a few unconventional routines they developed inside their tent, including something akin to driving an 18-wheeler. >> this is ridiculous. >> i saw the ladies in the tent actually doing a lot of exercise, ployometrics and calisthenics, with not much equipment, kind of making do with what they got. but at one point i think maybe they were perhaps putting me on because they showed me this workout where they were pretending to drive a big truck.

i couldn't see how that was going to help them stay in shape during their time on the inside. >> while many women gain weight from the predominantly starchy food served in jail, dee dee moore, who we met at the hillsboro county jail in tampa, florida, proved to be an exception. >> i know when you first came in you were weighing about 210 pounds. >> uh-huh. >> what are you down to now? what? >> oh, i'm down to under 150. >> really? >> when i came in, i weighed 250. when i first -- >> 250? >> yeah. i've lost 100 pounds since i've been here. >> moore, who was awaiting trial in a high-profile murder case to which she had pled not guilty, attributes her weight loss to a distinct dislike of jail food and her in-cell workout routine. >> i run. i run in place. i do it for 30 minutes to an hour. i do leg lifts. i do the six inch. i do scissors. i do the push-ups, the sit-ups, the jumping jacks.

>> this is "the biggest loser" contest and i got the public humiliation to go along with it. but now i'm skinny. >> coming up, some of the wildest tattoos we've ever seen. >> get the back piece on camera, baby. huh? showing off your work, son. [ dad ] find it? ya. alright, another one just like that. right in the old bucket. good toss! see that's much better! that was good. you had your shoulder pointed, you kept your eyes on your target. let's do it again -- watch me. just like that one... [ male announcer ] the durability of the volkswagen passat. pass down something he will be grateful for. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ back to you.

because for every 2 pounds you lose through diet and exercise, alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. let's fight fat with alli. ♪

sometimes shooting inside a prison or jail is a bit like attending a tattoo convention. they are everywhere you look and cross all lines of gender, race, and age. >> every day you come into corrections you see something different that you thought you'd never see before. >> eyeballs. got some nails that are pried open at different angles. >> the tattoo on my chest is a concrete jungle. it really is like a run up in the jungle because you never know what's going to happen. >> i think tattoos are extremely

important to most inmates. they are history books of sort, places they've been, things they've been through, relationships, you name it. there's a tattoo that signifies any one of those things. >> and brilliant tattoo displays aren't limited to inmates. we've met some correctional staff with plenty of their own ink. >> tell me about your ink. you've got quite a lot of art on you. >> my tattoos are just a personal preference. most of them are religious. it's just something i like. it's from a painting of st. michael. and it's got a catholic sacred heart on there. some latin writing for my grandmother. a little greek god panel on the back, which is my son's greek birth god. >> do the inmates comment on your art? >> occasionally. a lot of them look. other than that the inmates don't really talk to us a whole lot unless they need something. >> while inmates also bear religious tattoos -- >> on my back i've got my cross

god, you know, watching my back every day is how i look at it. >> a lot of what we see represents neighborhoods, gang membership, or other affiliations. >> why did you get a swastika on your forehead? >> i wouldn't say i'm a real racist type person. it's just prison is a lot of political stuff. while i'm in here it's easier over here or over here. i ride with my race if that's you what you could say, i'd be about my race before, but it's something else. >> ten swirls with three dots in the center represents 13. it's protection under the mexican mafia. you put these tattoos on you, representing who you represent. >> this is citron. this is my neighborhood. >> 719. everyone's got that. you know? the area code where they're from. ♪ >> i'm from the east side. i'm from the west side. who gives a [ bleep ]. east side, west side don't. hell, they're happy now that you're gone. so why are you here trying to represent?

you ain't representing nothing but yourself. >> when it comes to tattoos, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. >> i don't often critique inmates' tattoos. but in the case of ronnie tye when he showed me his hitler tattoo i just thought it was so poorly done and hitler's face almost looks like a cartoon character that i couldn't help myself. >> that's a weird-looking hitler. >> what's so weird about it? >> his face looks funny. >> looks funny? >> i could tell that ronnie actually didn't appreciate my criticism of his tattoo. i think he was a little stunned that i would actually say anything. he probably had a lot of pride in it but i thought it was very silly-looking. >> then there are the tattoos that are in a category of their own. >> i'm a felon obviously because i'm a felon. >> bruce campbell, army of darkness. i just liked them, put them on.

>> as far as my tattoos go, the most painful one i would probably have to say the one i got in the middle of the armpit t was like a burning pain. it almost felt like it was burning with a torch rather than a gun. it was real hot. as you could tell, i made it through it, i got it done. >> kelly mcnaughton, whose nickname was mcnaughty, was one of the more colorful inmates we met at the maricopa county jail. and her tattoos were some of the most provocative we've seen on a female inmate. >> and then the moon doing something to the lady. and look and see how the moon doesn't look happy doing it but she's still like getting her. >> while some inmates have their ink work done before getting locked up -- >> this is the outline of arizona with the building with the flag. i got that in the army. >> -- we met plenty of others who get their tattoos on the inside. >> i got this knocked out in prison. the name of the projects was orient heights.

the building i grew up in was 191, fairwood av. >> everything that i got is a prison tattoo, actually. >> i heard somewhere prison tattoos are like the prison experience. it hurts when you're getting them, it's bloody, some scabs and bruises but when it's all healed up and it's all said and done there's something left over. >> nice back piece, ain't it? get your back piece on camera, baby! huh? showing off your work, son. >> yeah? >> huh? >> there's better artists, tattoo artists in prison than there are out on the street. >> where did you get those tattoos? >> wherever the cops aren't. >> although it's illegal, where there's a will, there's a way. no matter how many restriction and laws are put on them by administrations, inmates usually find a way around it. >> this is some of my work right here i did since i first met him. what was that, three months ago? four months ago? >> something like that. >> got a lot done. >> got this started the other night. you know what i mean.

right there. you know what it is. >> i like the tattoos. i like the whole -- i like the whole process. i like the whole ritual of it, especially in prison. you know, sitting down, hanging out, you've got the little radio going, you've got your butt man, you know, watching out for you and you're sticking it to the man. >> there's more than one way to get prison tattoos. some methods are cruder than others. >> i got this tattoo done right here in the county. that was picked in with a staple. took ten hours. >> i had a guy from california do it, and it was pretty excruciating the way it had to go down. normal tattoos are done with surgical instruments. they're done in here with a sharpened staple, one dot at a time. so it took forever to do and it hurt really bad. >> other inmates craft sophisticated but illegal tattoo guns from parts of other items they are allowed to possess. >> any small wire can be straightened out and made into a

needle. you can get motors out of appliances, tape recorders, cameras. >> when we see tattoo guns in prison, it's usually after they have been confiscated by authorities. >> pretty crafty, huh? >> i got the ink, i've got the tattoo needles, i've got the motor, the tattoo gun, the barrel. it's all right here. >> but we met a pair of cellmates who were so eager to show off their contraband tattoo gun, they were willing to reveal its hiding spot. >> watch him, bro. >> i'm watching. >> this is my tattoo gun. i plug it up to the tv. i plug this into the tv and this into my gun and i take the ink pen with a sharpened staple, and tattoo it.

i just did this stuff on my bunkie right here. >> did that one last night and that one last night. >> i was waiting for the police to see you, because i know you guys probably don't get too much contraband shown to you. >> as correction officers are always standing nearby during our interviews, the gun was quickly confiscated, but the cellies still had plenty of other prison tattoos to display. >> my jason mask. >> that's how we pass our time right there. >> that's what we do all the time. just tattoo art. i just did the stuff on his head, the stars on his face. >> we tattooed last night until 5:00 in the morning. >> yep, till 5:00 this morning. that's what we do, sleep all day, tattoo all night. >> i got most of these tattoos done in less than a month. my mom has no idea i have any tattoos. i didn't have any tattoos. >> so how you going to explain it when you get out? >> i don't know. i'll let the tv show do the explaining.

>> do you want to say anything to your mom right now since she's probably watching? >> sorry, mom. >> coming up, the inmates' stories beneath the ink. >> i got these praying hands for my dad. >> my father got shot by the police when i was 2. >> and later, the one topic the inmates love to hate. >> the food is slop. >> [ bleep ] nasty. ] [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i don't like v8 juice. [ male announcer ] how about v8 v-fusion. a full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. but what you taste is the fruit. so even you... could've had a v8. i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios

for every story an inmate tells us about his life, there's often another story told in ink on his body. >> most of my tats either have to do with death or protection. one way we're all going to die eventually. >> they all have a meaning. they all have a time and place where they meant something. it's more like a memory road map. >> we conduct some very difficult interviews in prison, asking the inmates to reflect on some terrible things that they've experienced years ago, topics that maybe they haven't talked about in years, and one way for us to connect with them, to get them to open up, is to ask them to tell us about their

tattoos. >> what's that? that's a gun? >> that's a gun. i got it right here on my ribs. it's an einstein quote. "we have to learn the rules of the game then you have to learn to play them better than anyone else." i took it from einstein and kind of applied it to the streets. >> i am what the streets created. i ran the streets, grew up in the streets. life in the streets. what you see is what the streets created. >> my shooting star. i've been doing heroin a little over ten years. it's a very expensive star. may not look expensive, but a lot of money went into that star. >> sometimes an inmate's tattoos can lead us to a particularly revealing story. >> don't you got a hundred dollar bill? >> i do got a hundred dollar bill tattoo. >> where is that at? >> it's crazy, bro. i got a hundred dollar bill tattooed on my penis. >> oh.

so what do you tell the girls about that? >> i mean, it's money to blow. >> while robbie macannally can laugh about some tattoos, others carry a more somber tone. >> for all my soldiers who ain't survived i hope they live in a sky. it's like a song, like a memorial piece. instead of getting rest in peace for everybody, get it for a bunch of people. that's my mom's name in the heart with the ribbon and the flower and the angel. honor thy mother. and then i got these praying hands for my dad. it was just the praying hands. everything else around it i just got it recently. my father got shot by the police when i was 2, and it was all over the news when it happened. him and my mom started having problems, and she had filed domestic cases on him a couple of times and ended up getting them dropped and one day she went down to the city/county building to file charges against him. when she came out, my grandma took her down there, he jumped in the car with them, put a gun on both of them. my grandma tried to get out, he

shot at my grandma, but the first round was blank. then my mom tried to get out and he shot her in the mouth. she got out and ran into the city market, he ran in there and slit her throat and then ran up and across to the parking garage. and the police found him in there. they had a shoot-out and stuff. >> macannally's mother survived the attack. his father died five days later. while macannally's praying hands tattoo helped lead to us this story, he's hardly alone when it comes to tattoos dedicated to loved ones. >> i didn't have to put a certain face in there because this pretty much resembles all the females in my life that's hurting while i'm in here. pretty much resembles my daughter, my mom, my sisters. >> this is a portrait right here of my girl and this is her name below it. she better be happy for that, that's all i can really say. not too many guys go through that right there. >> what does that say? who is that? >> serenity. that's my daughter.

my pride and joy. >> that's my baby. he ain't no baby no more. he's 8 now. yeah. he was like 16 months when i got locked up. >> that's my mom and my grandma right there. i got my whole family on my leg. my kids, mom and dad. nieces and nephews. >> i've got memorial tattoos on my stomach from my grandfather. i've got a largemouth bass. right? right? he was a fisherman and i wanted to be original. right? >> this is my son. he passed away while i was in here last june. >> no. >> my baby son. he was going to be 2 years old. rest in peace. my little angel watching over me, man. every one of these got a story behind it. a lot of blood and sweat go into these little works. that's why they mean so much to us. rest in peace for my son, man. >> but not everyone wants to remember. some inmates wish they could erase their ink. >> if i could acid dip my whole body and take off every tattoo, i would. you know, it's embarrassing to

my family when i take my shirt off at functions. but they accept me for who i am. they know me past the tattoos. >> don't read a book by its cover. i wish i didn't have none of these, believe it or not. now that i have them, i'm stuck with them. it tells a life story. >> things you do when you're young will haunt you until you die. believe that. straight up. in more ways than one. >> coming up -- >> i've been in the restaurant business for almost 15 years. >> the "lockup" guide to fine dining. prison style. >> you guys can go to lunch without me today. it's actually really good.

hey there. i'm veronica de la cruz. here's what's happening. the national rifle association president says congress is not likely to pass an assault weapons ban, claiming the gun lobby has the support to block it. residents of newtown, connecticut are gathering today to talk about whether to tear down the school where a gunman killed 26 people, replacing it

with a memorial. gas prices are surged seven cents in the last three weeks, up to an average of $3.33 a gallon. or $3.32 rather. i'm veronica de la cruz. let's get you back to the program. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. ♪ >> if there's one place to discover the blues, it's in the nation's prisons and jails. incarceration brings not only the lack of freedom but cramped quarters and the ever-present threat of violence. but we found one of the most discussed and reviled aspects of prison life is the food. >> this is the jungle. you want to eat, you came to the wrong place. >> we're not [ bleep ] animals. we're not dogs. you feed dogs.

you serve us chow. >> and portion sizes rarely compare to those on the streets. >> this is for little kids. that's why we pray. pray for canteen. >> should focus on how little these [ bleep ] trays is. grown ass men eating these little ass trays. see these little ass portions, y'all? they got to do something about this [ bleep ] >> these meals aren't even enough if you're anorexic. >> ain't no sunshine in this jail. >> but the biggest complaint is the taste. >> the food is ridiculous. it's slop. i wouldn't even feed that kind of food to my animals. >> the food is disgusting. >> [ bleep ] nasty. >> i don't know what that is. i don't know what that is. i don't know what that is. and a green banana. >> help us. please, people, help us. >> i've been filming inside prisons for a long time and i think i can count on one hand the number of inmates that not

only have said that the food is good but that the food is okay. acceptable. literally one hand. >> prison food is good. >> what's that? >> i said prison food's good. >> you are officially the first person that we have ever heard say that. >> it's a different story at the maricopa county jail in phoenix where the food delivery system -- well, you can see for yourself. >> this is kibbles and bits and beefy bits right here. i mean dark food. >> this would [ bleep ] make you go crazy. get to hurting people. >> i don't even know what i have. >> but that reaction is exactly the one the man who runs the jail strives for. sheriff joe arpaio says he simply wants to motivate inmates to not come back. >> our meals went up from 15 cents to 18.

i'm not too happy with that. but you know, we have a little inflation. we give them two meals a day. brunch. >> this is it. that's all you get until dinnertime. >> usually a bologna sandwich, an orange, some donated cookies. and at night they get a hot meal. >> a lot of these guys won't talk up but i'm going tell you what i think. the food here is garbage, bro. >> you don't eat it? >> no. >> how come? >> the only thing i'll ever eat is the fruit. the only reason i take the tray is so that i can talk to everybody in the run. because when they give you your food the trap stays opened until they pick it up. i don't eat it, though. >> we throw more of it away than we eat, honestly. the food that we get -- >> well, once you serve it you can't use it for anything else. [ laughter ] but do you have food in wyoming? >> we do. and we recognize it. no, but seriously. >> i've got more people in jail than you have in your whole state. >> you've got that right. >> with two meals for every one

of its 8,000 inmates, the maricopa county jail churns out 16,000 meals per day. they're all prepared at the facility's food factory, where the vast majority of the workers are inmates. >> we have close to 100 inmates working each day. they work eight-hour days. they work from around 5:00 in the morning until 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon and come in around 3:00 and work until 10:00 or 11:00 at night depending on what shift they're assigned to. many of the conditions are very extreme. very, very cold in a lot of the areas. some are very warm, wet. they still have to come here and work hard because it's necessary to get our production done. >> rather than eat the food provided to them -- >> sorry. can't do it. >> -- one group of female inmates regularly made a super dessert out of a variety of lesser desserts, all bought from the jail canteen. >> it looks pretty gross, huh? >> we take it and process it in the bag.

>> now it's in the blender. it looks gross, huh? just the bottom part of it is 2,000 calories. not even all this stuff. >> they were putting honey bun upon sugar packet, and just about everything sweet that you could find, they had poured into this cake. >> it doesn't look very tantalizing but it's really bomb. >> we're just going to throw them bad boys on there. i'm not martha stewart. >> that's our cake. >> the only thing i could think in my mind was oh, my gosh, i hope they don't ask me to try this. but at the same time, out of politeness, of course, i knew that they would and that i would have to sample this sugar bomb that they had just made. >> come on, take a bite. >> taste it. >> on camera. >> we washed our hands. >> okay. you're going to like it. >> oh, i love it. >> do you have like a whole grain vegan version of this? >> come on. man bites. >> better get him some water.

>> it's like the sweetest donut i've ever had. it's like man versus maricopa. this show has quickly turned into me trying everything in prison. >> we've met dozens of other inmates who make elaborate desserts from canteen items. but they also make their own entrees. they call them spreads. >> a lot of people think i make the best spread. a lot of the girls give me props on it. we'll see. >> we met mona salame at the orange county jail in southern california, and she showed us a dish that has won her praise. >> there's all different ways to make a spread, but we're going to make it with soup, popcorn, beans, pork. i love to cook everything with flavor. so i put a lot of spice into it. it will be ready in about ten minutes. so i'm going to wrap it up in the paper right now so you can keep the heat and cooks it up, because the water is not really

that hot. i've been in the restaurant business for almost 15 years. so i better make the best spread. it has nothing to do with what i used to make but it's the flavor and the food and it's all the same. it's done. >> i knew she wasn't going to eat this whole thing, so when she offered it up to the crew, i felt inclined to try it. >> so where am i going here? >> go wherever. go in the middle so this way you can -- >> get everything in there? >> yeah, just mix it. go like whatever. yeah. get dirty with it. there you go. >> all right. here we go. it's actually really good. fyi, guys, you guys can go to lunch without me today. got me a spread. >> i wasn't lying to her when i told her that it was good. but on the second bite, there was a bit of a pork rind in there, and i've never even tried those before. >> mm. >> you don't like the pork in it? >> mm-mm. >> the first bite was much better than the second bite. >> i appreciate that.

i have to get the recipe from you. this is a new one for me. thank you for turning me on to the spread. >> coming up, jail food to go. >> if you're going to take a chance of getting caught, do it in a big way. >> go big or go home. right? >> and when inmates do more than play with their food, this is what they get. >> that's horrible. i don't think a dog would eat that. alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. let's fight fat with alli. ♪

this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. this is the life i chose, where friends become foes, and the money gets you killed quicker than you know. jail, locked up on extended stay. msbs -- msnbn -- i don't know how to say that [ bleep ]. but msnbc, man. locked up, wabash, extended stay. msnbc, locked up wabash, extended stay. welcome to the belly of the beast. yeah. >> we hear a lot of inmates describe prison as the belly of the beast.

>> this place sucks, man. >> it's usually not used to describe prison kitchens. but that might be the most appropriate use of the phrase there is. >> our crews are always looking for ways to get these kind of iconic prison or jail shots, and the kitchen is a great place to get them, because i don't think anything really says incarceration more than seeing some bland food scooped onto an institutional tray by a 6'4" inmate covered in tattoos. and the funny thing about the food is inmates always complain about it but inevitably they're always looking for ways to get more of it. >> this is so we don't starve later on. but if you want to see a real sack, look over there. show them what you got. >> but if you're going to do it, if you're going to take a chance at getting caught, do it in a big way. >> go big or go home. right? and since we can't go home -- >> this is how we do it here. >> most inmate meals are prepared and served by other inmates.

kitchen work is far from glamorous, but it has its perks. >> the reason i do it is to get out of my cell, you know, come down here, get a little freedom. and, you know, eat a little better. >> ray slagel loved working in the kitchen at the limon correctional facility in colorado because he could trade extra food for tokens, coin slots used to purchase ice cream and soda from prison vending machines. >> cheeseburger. >> two tokens. i said double cheeseburger. i should have shown you one. double cheeseburger, two tokens. that's a good deal. yeah, yeah, i can't even get them fast enough. you know. i usually sell two of those a day. >> while most menus are designed to provide a basic level of nutrition, steven doad, the food service director at the hillsboro county jail in tampa, florida, has taken a more wholesome approach to inmate meals. >> we make up 11,000 meals a day and we have a 28-day cycle menu which has a variety for the inmates. and our last menu design we

decided we were going to make this a heart-healthy menu. that's the only jail in florida that i know of that does a heart-healthy menu. the food has to have 2,650 calories per day. we have 33% or less fat. we have 3.5 grams of sodium per day or less. there are the 100% required amounts of vitamins and minerals to make a healthy lifestyle for anyone. >> most inmates are hired for kitchen jobs based on their behavior history and the trust they've earned from staff. as opposed to any culinary experience. john powers met all of those qualifications, but he also just happened to be the real deal. >> i worked at a restaurant. i'm a culinary chef. i'm a sous chef. i've owned a couple of steak houses in the area. a caribbean seafood restaurant in hernando county. i've been in the food business since 1985. >> since most inmates complain

about the food, we asked powers for a professional evaluation. >> it is bland. a lot of the food is bland and i agree to somewhat that it isn't enough food. but once you're here for a week or two weeks, you get used to it. people are eating -- used to being on the street and eating when they want and what they want. and unfortunately, when you come here, that's not what you get to do. >> it's not enough to fill you, just enough to put something in your stomach to keep you going. >> there's chicken in here but the chicken is not real good chicken. very bad chicken. but anyway, whatever. >> it ain't cooked. but it is what it is. got to eat to survive. >> i think that the food tastes reasonably good. what we have done is try to create neutral food tastes so if the food is bland, at least they are not having something that they find objectionable. >> once you're here a little bit, you're like, you know what? it's really not that bad.

a little salt would be nice, but -- and pepper. but other than that, it's, you know, it is hard. >> you keep looking over your shoulder at the other chef here. how come? >> i work for him, so -- that's like the boss. so i'm making sure i don't say anything too bad. i don't want to offend him or say anything out of line. i'm sure i'll have a little talk with him when we're done with this conversation. >> back at the limon correctional facility, we encounter perhaps the most unusual of all inmate meals. it's called meal loaf. prepared for us by captain urel hubbard. it's a sort of self-contained meal for inmates who tend to throw their food in their cells or at others. >> what we've got here basically is all of the food groups. nine ounces of ground beef, carrots are weighed out, shredded potatoes, shredded cabbage, seven ounces. vegetable oil.

beans, ten ounces. precooked. tomato puree. hopefully, it will hold together fairly well. the recipe says to put it in a loaf pan, but this will do just fine. this should weigh out at a little over -- about 3 1/2 pounds. and it goes in the oven at 325 degrees. very, very nutritious dish. doesn't take it long to heat up. >> when captain hubbard made one for us, it didn't look bad. watching him make it, it was almost like making your average meatloaf. but the inmate described it as being so horrible. they acted like it was the worst thing you could possibly have. when in actuality, i'd seen things on the menu that were much worse-looking than this meat loaf. >> my reputation, they don't care for it at all.

i've tasted it. and it's not really that bad. >> inmate carlos alexander would be his own judge. >> this is horrible. >> [ bleep ] that's good. are you for real, man? this is good! >> it tastes like cardboard. y'all got to try some of this. jake, you want to eat that? >> i want salt and pepper. that's cheating though, right? >> you don't like it. >> it's not that bad. >> it actually wasn't too bad. it was very bland, but if you have the right condiments, it would have been like a standard meatloaf, almost. unfortunately, the inmates in seg never have the right condiments. >> that's horrible. i don't think a dog would eat that.

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